Stackable pallet type crate



Nov. 27, 1951 CO", R 2,576,672

STACKABLE PALLET TYPE CRATE Filed Nov. 5, 1949 I INVENTOR. 5%., is 502 row C. Corr, JR.

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Patented Nov. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STACKABLE PALLET TYPE CRATE Application November 3, 1949, Serial No. 125,340

2 Claims.

My invention relates to pallets and crates for the storing and transporting of loads by trucks of either the fork-lift type or platform lift type, and comprises a modification of the pallet shown and described in my copending application Serial No. 125,339, filed November 3, 1949.

My invention has for its object the provision of a pallet and crate structure wherein the legs of the pallet are of such form that the pallet of one crate can readily be accurately positioned upon the upper edges of the vertical walls of another crate, when stacking the pallets and crates upon one another.

A further advantage is that the legs are of such form that dirt or liquid drippings from the legs of a super-imposed pallet will fall outside of a crate upon which the pallet is stacked.

As shown in the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevational View of a pallet and crate structure embodying my invention and indicating the manner in which a pallet is stacked. on an underlying crate; Fig. 2 is an end view; and Figs. 3 and 4 are views taken on the line III-III and IV-IV respectively, of Fig. 1.

The vertical walls of the crate are here shown as comprising horizontal wires 5 to which are welded vertical wires 6. There is a stiffening rod 1 at the upper edge of each end wall to resist deformation of these walls by the weight of a superimposed pallet. The end walls of the crate are shown as hinged to the deck by coils 8, the side walls being held against displacement by hooks 9 that extend through the deck and being hinged by coils Ill and II at two diagonally opposite corners of the crate. The side and end Walls at the other two diagonal corners are connected by fastening devices such as hooks l3 and keepers I4 for padlocks and the like. If desired, the hinge elements 8 can be omitted and the crate connected to the pallet deck simply by hooks such as the hooks 9.

The pallet upon whose deck the crate walls are supported serves as a bottom for the crate and comprises longitudinally-extending wires or rods [5 to which are welded transverse wires or rods 16. Reinforcing and stilfening wires ll are welded to the upper surfaces of the wires IE3, at the longitudinal edges of the deck, and stifiening rods I8 are welded to the undersides of the wires M1.

The legs comprise sheet metal strips or plates bent to form seating surfaces 2| and brace portions 22. The legs 28 and members 2! are welded at their upper ends to the rods [8- and IS. The concave portions 21 support the pallet on crate walls and are of assistance in aligning the pallet upon a crate when stacking the pallets and crates. The legs 2i will transmit the weight from a pallet to the crate walls of a crate upon which the pallet is stacked, through the wires 5 and top wires 5.

Brace rods or floor bars 23 and 242 have their ends welded to the legs 26, the surfaces of these bars being flush with the lower surfaces of the legs. These bars serve to brace the legs against deflection under impacts imposed in directions transversely of the pallet.

The brace portions 22 ordinarily do not touch the floor because the leg members 20 extend farther downwardly. This is of advantage because any dirt which adheres to the lower ends of the legs 23 will, when the pallet is stacked upon another crate, fall outside of the crate instead of upon the contents within the crate. For example, when the crate structure is employed in con nection with the curing of hams, the loaded crates are set into the brine tank and thereafter removed and set upon the floor. The brine liquid drains down and any dirt that adheres to the lowermost ends of the legs 29 and bars 23-2 3 is carried along with the dripping liquid to the outside of an underlying crate, as indicated by the drops 25 in Fig. 1. The liquid which drips from the brace members 2 [-22 to the underlying crate will, of course, do no harm, because these two members have not had. contact with a floor.

The spacing of the legs is such that a lift truck of the platform type can be used from either side of the container, because of the wide spacing of the legs, as shown in Fig. 1. Trucks of the fork lift type can be entered beneath the pallet deck from either the sides or the ends of the containers, since the lifting forks can enter between the legs at the ends of the container, in straddled relation to the middle leg 20.

I claim as my invention:

1. A combined pallet and crate structure comprising a pallet having a deck, vertical crate walls resting upon the deck, legs welded to the deck adjacent to the edges of the deck at each corner thereof, upwardly-deflected seating members extending backwardly from and entirely higher than the lower ends of the le s, in position to rest upon a crate wall upon which the pallet is stacked, a brace member extending upwardly from the rear end of each seating member and welded at its upper end to the deck, the brace members and the rear ends of the seating members being disposed in a higher plane than the lower ends of the legs, and brace bars welded to the legs at approximately the lowermost planes thereof and extending in .a direction perpendicular to the plane of each leg and its associated brace member, each leg and its associated seating and brace portions being of sheet metal bent to generally U-form.

2. A combined pallet and crate Structure comprising a pallet having a deck, vertical crate walls resting upon the deck, a leg of generally U-form having the upper end of one of its sides welded to the deck at a point in approximately the plane of one of the vertical walls and the other side of the U being welded at its upper end to a point on the deck that is located inwardly of the firstnamed point, the first-named side of the U-leg sloping downwardly and outwardly for such distance that the lower end of the U-leg will rest upon a wall of a similarly-sized crate upon which the pallet is stacked, the second-named side of the leg extending downwardly a shorter distance 4 than the outer side of the leg, whereby it is kept from engaging a floor, and the lower face of the U-leg being recessed upwardly to receive the edge of an underlying crate wall.

BURTON C. COIT, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,386,878 Lamp Aug. 9, 1921 1,648,025 Molloy Nov. 8, 1927 1,757,618 Clark May 6, 1930 2,359,908 Glantzer Oct. 10, 1944 2,471,095 Coit, Jr. May 24, 1949 2,503,208 Nydegger et a1. Apr. 4, 1950 

